The regional plan for Trinity, Siskiyou and Modoc counties would identify where EV charging stations should be built, and prepare the infrastructure needed to support them.
The counties were approached by the coalition Rural County Representatives of California, which found they didn’t have a plan in place after helping Yolo County develop a plan of their own.
At a meeting with Trinity County Supervisors on Wednesday, Bob Burris at the RCRC said counties without readiness plans in place have been losing out on public and private investment.
“Part of the urgency of putting together readiness plans is to make sure that counties are ready to receive both private and public dollars while both are flowing,” he said.
California will require that all passenger cars and light-duty trucks sold from 2035 are zero-emission. The state estimates it will need around 1.2 million chargers by 2030 to meet demand. It’s spending hundreds of millions of dollars to develop that network.
The coalition plans to submit the grant application to Caltrans by the Jan. 18 deadline, which could award them up to $700,000 dollars to develop the tri-county plan.